BE THE CHANGE

COVID-19 Responses

﻿﻿Fellows are answering the call to kōkua our community, from keiki to kūpuna, with the following efforts. We invite you to join in on these collaborative efforts dedicated and committed to being of service to those in need, especially during this unprecedented time.

Actions of Aloha, Mālia Kaʻaihue

We are encouraged to dig deeper, think outside of the box, connect while in solitude, and spread ALOHA. through our actions. To share stories of ALOHA. for ourselves, our ‘ohana, our lāhui, and our ‘āina, DTL created an #ActionsOfAloha Challenge to motivate everyone to stay connected, keep sane, have fun, and inspire collective impact to support joy and well-being of the body, mind, and spirit. We need to spread all the ALOHA. we can to ensure our local businesses remain open, our communities are fed, and our kūpuna stay safe. Follow @actionsofaloha on Instagram and take part in the #ActionsOfAloha challenge.

Chef Hui, Mark Noguchi

Created by Mark and Amanda Noguchi to address the current collapse of our restaurant industry and the growing need to provide nutritious meals to our community, ﻿﻿﻿Chef Hui﻿﻿ is a statewide program aimed to help local farmers farming and chefs cooking and mitigate food insecurity by delivering nutritious ingredients and meals to communities in need. Together with ﻿Aloha Harves﻿t, Chef Hui acts as a food hub and shares resources with organizations that are already cooking within their communities and helps connect those in need to available resources. Donated ingredients and supplies are also provided to help numerous other efforts, such as ﻿Mālama Mea﻿ls.

Early Childhood Action Strategy, Kerrie Urosevich

The COVID-19 crisis is having a direct impact on families with young children and organizations and agencies that support them. Teams and partners within the ﻿Early Childhood Action Strategy ﻿(ECAS) network have shifted priorities to focus on four areas during the next few months: 1) Family Violence Prevention, 2) Prenatal Access, 3) Child Care Support, and 4) Weekly Resource Updates. Teams have designed strategies and are raising funds to support these efforts.

Ekklesia Capital, David Oyadomari

As a result of the economic shutdown, the Federal Government has provided small business owners economic relief through programs like the Payment Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. However, the existential question looms: "How do I stabilize my company to prevent collapse when these relief programs are depleted?" David Oyadomari of newly formed ﻿Ekklesia Capital is offering a 4-week Zoom-delivered program to provide Hawaiʻ﻿﻿﻿i's small business owners the technical tools and social support system to stabilize their business during the COVID-19 crisis and develop a foundation for recovery and resilience. During this pilot, David is building the ability to scale this program to over half of Hawaiʻi's small business market. For more information, visit www.ekklesiacapital.com/mastermind or email info@ekklesiacapital.com.

Ensuring a Green Economic Recovery, Jack Kittinger

As the dialogue shifts from pandemic response and containment to economic recovery in Hawai‘i, this initiative is working to ensure that the conservation sector is positioned as a key way to diversify our economy and put people back to work. They are working with thought leaders to develop a unified plan from the conservation sector, aggregating a high-level overview of job creation potential (in "shovel-ready" green initiatives), funding needs, and projected return on investment. The intention is that this will put the conservation sector into the conversation and decision-making around federal stimulus. They are also coordinating with the agriculture/local food sector and the clean energy sector to identify synergies, reduce redundancy, and ensure the sustainability sector is broadly coordinated and ready to accelerate our economic and cultural recovery from the pandemic. For more information, contact ﻿﻿﻿﻿jkittinger@conservation.org﻿﻿﻿.﻿﻿

Every1ne Hawaiʻi, Nicole Velasco

﻿Every1ne Hawaiʻi, a grassroots collaborative, pivoted from its initial focus on civic engagement to join Hawaiʻi's rapid response efforts for COVID-19 by procuring 2 million nonmedical, surgical-style masks through existing Hawaiʻi-China business relationships. Since hospitals would not accept the free masks due to procurement and regulatory requirements, Every1ne Hawaiʻi decided to give the masks to the public at no cost. Within a week of the shipment's arrival, over 1 million masks were distributed statewide. Many Omidyar Fellows have made statewide distribution of these masks possible. Every1ne Hawaiʻi is deeply ﻿grateful for all the hearts and hands that have made this possible. We are the collective reminder that aloha is essential. Follow us on ﻿Facebook or﻿ ﻿@every1ne_hawaii﻿﻿﻿﻿ on Instagram.

Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, Micah Kāne

In response to COVID-19, the ﻿Hawai‘i Community Foundation has collaborated with community leaders, government agencies, and local businesses to raise over $11.3 Million (as of 5/22/2020) for nonprofit organizations across the state to protect front line health care workers with PPE, conduct mass food distributions, support a team who is building respirators for our state's shortfall, and more. Over $7.6 Million in donations collected through the Hawai‘i Resilience Fund at HCF has been deployed to community nonprofits and health care providers who are addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic ramifications for Hawai‘i’s families. To learn more, please visit ﻿HawaiiCommunityFoundation.org/Coronavirus.

House of Mana Up, Meli James

﻿House of Mana Up is utilizing 100% of their e-commerce profits, generously matched by ﻿King's Hawaiian, to develop programs to grow online sales for Hawai‘i-based product businesses while we experience the effects of decreased tourism in our local market. Their first series of free workshops, entitled "Level Up Your Digital Marketing" was held from May 27-29, 2020. The workshops are open to local Hawai‘i small businesses currently selling their products online, with a goal of helping homegrown Hawai‘i businesses better leverage digital sales channels during this unique time.﻿

Kūkulu Switchboard, Keoni Lee

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Keoni Lee of Hawaiʻi Investment Ready (HIR), Ashley Lukens of Next Gen Donor Hui (NGH), and Lisa Maruyama of Hawaiʻi Alliance of Nonprofit organizations (HANO) joined forces to launch the Kūkulu Switchboard - a platform created to enable a timely resource exchange that provides a clear and aggregated view of community needs statewide. The Kūkulu Switchboard was created to enable timely resource exchange through a facilitated digital peer-to-peer network. Asks and offers for resources (financial, human, or otherwise) are posted, categorized, and searchable to easily connect with needs. The Switchboard will curate and import from other platforms, centralizing information and resources that would otherwise be siloed. For more information, visit ﻿k﻿ukulucollaborative.org.

Kupu, John Leong

Kupu in partnership with other organizations such as ﻿﻿Chef Hui, has launched a free meal distribution program on Oʻahu. Each meal is prepared fresh by their Culinary Program. Kupu has already delivered over 14,000 free meals to families. Community members can help by providing monetary donations towards the cost of ingredients and preparation. For every $5 donated, one meal can be delivered to a person in need. For more information on this initiative, please contact kaulana.mccabe@kupuhawaii.org.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted Hawai‘i’s high school seniors’ final school year and graduation celebrations. Many graduates’ plans are also disrupted. The University of Hawai‘i Community Colleges and Hawai‘i P-20 Partnerships for Education, together with community partners, are supporting this year’s 10,000 Hawai‘i public high school graduates in planning for their future through the Next Steps to Your Future initiative. This initiative connects 2020 HIDOE graduates to postsecondary education, training and/or employment through two programs: The ﻿Hawai‘i P-20 Summer Advising Initiative, and the ﻿UH Community Colleges Onramp Program. To learn more, visit ﻿﻿http://www.p20hawaii.org/nextsteps.

One O‘ahu, Josh Stanbro

﻿﻿﻿Oneoahu.org﻿﻿ provides the residents of O‘ahu with official information about the City and County of Honolulu's response to COVID-19. This site is updated daily with answers to frequently asked questions about Mayor Kirk Caldwell's Emergency Orders and links to trusted sources of COVID-19 related information. The dashboard on oneoahu.org hosts information about case counts, City supported testing, and the City's efforts to facilitate an open line of communication with the public. Oneoahu.org was created and is managed for the City and County of Honolulu by the Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency in collaboration with the Department of Emergency Management.

Our Kūpuna, Gabe Amey

The mission of ﻿Our Kūpuna is to look out for the elderly in Hawai‘i, especially those who do not have ‘ohana on island to look out for them during these difficult times. The program connects kūpuna with sponsors in our community who are free of COVID-19 symptoms. Sponsors help deliver groceries, medication, and supplies to our kūpuna so they can stay home until the outbreak passes.

Uplift Hawaiʻi, Dawn Lippert

﻿Uplift Hawaiʻi ﻿is an economic recovery platform bringing together organizations, individuals, coalitions, and other recovery initiatives to help policymakers, business leaders, and individuals align their decision-making and actions to ensure a more equitable future for all of Hawaiʻi. The resources and solutions shared through the Uplift Hawaiʻi platform are community-generated and align with five core principles created by a grassroots collective of individuals with decades of experience in agriculture and food security, climate change, entrepreneurship, finance, healthcare, housing, labor and workforce development, media, policy, and philanthropy. To show your support and join the community, visit ﻿www.uplifthawaii.org and follow them on ﻿Facebo﻿ok﻿, ﻿@Uplift_hi on Ins﻿tagram, ﻿﻿﻿@Uplift_hi﻿ on Twitter, ﻿and ﻿LinkedIn.﻿﻿